The Shifting Online Video Conversation
Premium is the hot buzzword of the moment. We, along with our fellow players in the video space claim it, and our industry analysts try to define it, but what really matters at the end of the day, is what premium means to brands and advertisers, and what offerings best support their goals.
One strong belief is that a premium video offering means premium content, in other words – content is king. Besides easily-adoptable, repurposed TV, we see new programming and partnerships being created by leading industry players, AOL included, in an attempt to satisfy this demand. Not only does it satiate consumer appetites for new video, it creates an opportunity for brands to interact with professionally produced original web content.
There is one caveat - premium content alone isn’t going to bring online video to the next level. Great content is not enough if it doesn’t scale. Brands need an alternative route to find brand-safe online partners. A strong network of premium content partnerships running on selected destinations can provide exactly that – an opportunity to reach a massive audience alongside only premium content, in one buy. Brands can find that at AOL Video, since the 5min Media premium network was brought in last year to supplement origin video from AOL brands.
Now if you want to talk premium inventory, that’s a bigger discussion than just premium content. Online video presents a distinct opportunity to measure quality and value for advertisers directly relative to their needs. Networks promise, and can indeed deliver scale, reaching audiences across partner destinations. We see convergence in a fragmented market, as players attempt to take targeting to higher levels. AOL Video does that too. We make sure to partner with best in class technologies to supplement our already unique targeting capabilities, which are based on years of data collection on our own advertising.com network.
With online video viewing increasing rapidly, there is no longer any doubt that video advertising should complement any TV buy, but it has to be a combination of reach and premium content that puts brands in the right place. Premium video advertising means brands have a say in what real estate they’re on and can get involved in the online conversation their audience is having, rather than just being taken along for the ride.
